By Evarist Baimu Nyaga Mawalla - Home

)2) of the European Convention on Human Rights a misdirection as to the truemeaning of article 11 (2) invalidated the relevant decision as a matter of Englishlaw if as was apparent from the terms of a statement in within made by theForeign and Commonwealth Office to the Select committee on Employment aconsideration of the meaning of article 11 (2) had formed an integral part of thedecision making process alternatively no reasonable minister could have formedthe view that informal instruction amounted to prescription by law within themeaning of article 11 (2) (vi) by failing be have any regard to relevant factorsnamely (a) the existence in the conditions of service contracts of service ofemployees at GCHQ of a right to belong to a national trade union and (b) the factthat she was obliged by the relevant conditions of service/ contracts of serviceand /or by long standing industrial relations practice to consult about relevantchanges in conditions of service (d) no responsible minister for the civil servicecould have come to the conclusion that it was necessary to alter the conditions ofservice/contracts of service for the following reasons(i) the industrial action take by certain employees at GCHQ in the period 1979-1981 had been insufficiently disruptive of operational work at GCHQ to promptfears that national security would in the future be jeopardized (ii) the delay ofthree years before any executive action by way of considering the alteration wassuch as to negative any suggestion that national security was beinginadequately safeguarded without resort to the alteration of the condition forservice/contracts of service of GCHQ employees; (iii) the official avowal in may1983 that GCHQ was a part of the nation’s security and intelligence services wasinsufficient reason for the delay in determining to alter the condition ofservice/contracts of service since there had been no change in the operationalactivities at GCHQ that required the alteration on 25 January 1984 when noexception had been considered necessary during the previous three years;moreover, by 1987 at the latest the intelligence services conducted at GCHQhad been given wide publicity (e) (i) in a statement made in writing by theForeign and Commonwealth Office to the Select Committee on Employment thelegal requirements for a change in the conditions of service had been illustrated335